NH Club News: Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks business people to serve as mentors

Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks business people to serve as mentors

MANCHESTER — Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester is looking for 40 business professionals from the Greater Manchester area to volunteer four hours a month to mentor an incoming Manchester high school freshman this fall.

Caring Adults Promoting Student Success, or the CAPSS program, is a career- and college-focused mentoring program that’s curriculum based and technology enhanced.

BBBSGM says the city of Manchester has the highest high school dropout rates and the lowest graduation rates in the state, and it says its nationally recognized one-to-one mentoring can make a difference.

While BBBSGM staff lead weekly classes teaching life skills such as perseverance, self-advocacy, financial literacy and resiliency, the mentors will supplement these lessons by building a positive relationship, serving as a support system and sharing personal experiences.

Each month, mentors will meet with the students in-person for two hours and then have weekly email contact for another two hours.

BBBSGM staff will match each mentor and also offer support to the volunteers.

BBBSGM plans to offer CAPSS mentoring to 60 Manchester high school students this year and an additional 60 students every year until every high school student in the city who would like a mentor is matched with one.

Rachel Fender, CAPSS program coordinator, said the school year will begin with 30 mentor/mentee matches at Manchester Memorial High School, and then an additional 30 matches at Manchester Central at the beginning of the second quarter.

“The structure of CAPSS mentoring allows for the flexibility most local professionals need without compromising the impact Big Brothers Big Sisters is known for and the impact our high school students deserve,” Fender wrote in a news release.